Ore mill



Patented Jan. 6, 1925.

TVE S UNITED RAYMONDBARKHURST, 0F PORTLANDVOREGON.

ORE MILL.

Apphcation filed 'February 11,/1924. `Seria1` No.' 692,056.

To tZZwwm/z't may concern.'

Be it` known that I, RAYMOND BARKHURST, a citizenfotl the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and theState of Oregon, and having my address l atv 9e 6th Street, in saidcity-and State, have 'inventeda new Aand AuSeul'Ore i7Mill, of

which the following isa` specification.

l"My invention 'relatesitofimprovements in ore mills wherein mineral bearing lores are ted into the milland are reduced toineness through the actioirot aS series of balls caused to'rotate in ball races, the'ballsbeing under pressure as rotated. The ore to Vbe ground kis redA into a hopper together with an amount of water that is sullicient for. grinding purposes, theA amount required depending upon the character ofv4 the ore to be reduced. The hopper, or chute deposits the ore, at a location, AWithin vthe inner circum 'terence'ot the race andas thel ore is reduced it gravitates to a lower level where a second series of balls arelocated and oper- `atingin a second race, thesecond series of yballs also under pressure and being driven through contact with a ring'riding atop of the balls. rlhe creas reducedpasses across the balls circumferential patlrand that portion that floats and has been reduced to a sufficient iineness is permitted to be drawn oil' through a central location in the form ot slimes through a screen. The height at which the same Al-lows from the grinding chamber may be adjusted to meet the working conditions, and the character of the material being reduced. The drawing oil'of the ground and reduced material through a central locationaccomplishes the result oil? the materials flowing ott as slimes at the point olA least agitation Within the reduction mill and, therefore, permits of the settling et those materials of a high specilic gravity within the mill at which point they may be drawn oil', or recovered at desired' times.

`Further objects of my invention are an ore mill ot simpliiied design having all parts accessible for adjustment and repair, or replacement, and one that is easily assembled and that may he transported in small units and assembled at the `point of use, which many times is Vat locations distant vfrom standard means of-transportation.

l attain'these objectsby the .mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l isa section view oiithe assembled machine, or mill, andv'llig. 2.is' a plan View or' the same. Fig. lisa plan view ofthe lower, rbottom racewayandfFig. el is a section view or thesame'talenon"linelel; of

kFig. 3. `Vlligt') is a section view'ot the lower part or' the outlet 'leading from the grinding bowl ot the mill and is' made toshow indetail the construction ol theadjustable `teature, and to show a riflleand mercury pocket -for the catching of any material ot'a high specific gravity that may have floated "from the grinding howl.

Similar reference characters'refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

l is the kbase of the grinding bowl that may be supported in any convenient Amanner such as upon leg supports, a concretefoundation, masonry und'erpinningor any other torm oi' foundation, upon the'upper side of this bowl is ay circumferential groove into 'Whichball race ring 2 is Fitted-as a wearing ring Jfor the balls torota-te upon. An annuflair groove is placed upon the-upper side o1 this ringand havingl one or more open- `ings 4e leading therefrom and to which valves etmaybe att-ached. yln this-race way may be placed mercury, or other suitable composition to act as a settling basin for material possessing a higher specific Agravity than that oit the mercury or other composition. are grinding balls operatingl within the race way ot. the race ring and 6 is a double race ring which acts as the driving agent for the rotation o'the balls within the race way. ln order to facilitate rapid Vgrinding `and to prevent centrifugal i'orce from throwing these balls out ott-he 1aces it is necessary to apply pressure to the halls when the ore mill is operated at commercial speeds. The double race ring 6 is secured to the cylinder 7 having'cylinder head 8 with vent holes 9 in the head of the same. 'lhe object of rentv holes is to prevent a. vacuum torming, or the creation-ot a pres- Y work progresses.

sure within the cylinder. is a driving shaft, this driving shaft may be secured to the double race ring directly in sonic inills embodying my construction but I have here shown the cylinder and cylinder head construction as a means of securing the same to the driving shaft. As these mills are used for the crushing of the hardest materials a cert-ain flexibility must obtain and to make this possible the driving shaft is mounted upon a bearing wherein a long key slides. This may be within the connection at the cylinder head or at some other point.`

To provide a convenient means for the lifting of the driving head from the Vgrinding bowl, this key way may be placed within the cylinder head and the whole mechanism lifted out by the application of a lifting moment to screw eye 10a. 11 is a universal joint, 12 a stub shaft, 13 a vertical bearing and 14 a driving pulley for the application of a suitable frictio-nal drive to the same.

15 is a race pressure ring to which the pressure is initially applied which is in turn applied to all of the balls in the mill and this ring hasta race in it also. a pressure may be applied to 'this ring it is quite essential that the ring should not rotate with the drive and to prevent this I have provided a locatingsplit lug-.17 and the presser bar 16 connects the same with the race pressure ring. The pressure may be applied through a spring act-ion or live rubber as shown at 19. 20 is the mill cylin* der and 21V are amalgam plates placed on the inner periphery of the mill shell and the same are made corrugated to break up the swirling action of the semiliquid material that is caused by the rapid rotation of the grinding mechanisms. I have provided tain the material remaining in the grinding bowl until a specified degree of iineness has been obtained I haveplaced a screen 22 over the discharge pipe. This screen accomplishes the further purpose of preventing a swirling action of the liquid at the point directly above the discharge pipe and will cause a i constant discharged amount to flow from 1 the grinding bowl if the input is a constant.

As these mills are primarily designed for `the reduction of mineral bearing ores and the recovery of the values contained therein a settlingbasin 22EL is provided within the screened area and about the discharge pipe.

A second settling basin is also provided in the outflow pipe. The grinding o f different materials will require that the point of discharge or height of' the discharge pipe will l be required to be raised or lowered as the The discharge pipe 23 passes through the base of the mill and a tight joint is maintained at the point by an Vadjustable gland. 24, 25 is a T having a cap In order that Y 26 encasing the head 28 of the adjusting screw 27 for the raising or lowering of the discharge pipe 23 through the action of hand screw 33. 29 is a baille plate placed in the outward discharge flow of the material from the reduction mill placed across the settling basin 30 that may be iilled with mercury or other liquid material of a high specic gravity and 31 is a suitable screw connection for the valve 32 to be attached thereto. The material to be reduced is fed `into the grinding bowl by means of a suitable chute and is deposited into the space within the inner circumference of the upper rin Vof there to the space 35 and centrifugal force causes the heavier material to be thrown against the amalgam plates 21 and from there the uncollected unground material again `finds its way into the path of the lower series `of balls. These balls'being at the lower point of the mill all Vmaterials are here reduced to the desired iineness and will thenlioat into the space 36 and be carried from there to the exterior of the mill. A

Having thus described my invention in such detail that any one Vmay build the same I wish to make the following claims theresfor- Y y l l. An ore mill comprising a b ase having a renewable ring race therein, balls within the race, a `driven ring resting upon Vthe balls with an annular race upon itsupper surface, balls in the upper race and flexible balls as shown atr34 and it gravitates rom means for applying pressure to the aforesaid balls, a cylindrical shell secured to the base, ank amalgam corrugated cylindrical shell adapted to being placed within the cylindrical shell, a central overflow through` the base adapted to regulating the height an inner discharge from the mill and to reofthe overflow above the base and a base support.

through thel base, valve connections with the passageways, a central liquid 4overflow through the base, means for changing the height of thevoverflow, and a screen cover over the central overflow limiting the coarseness of material tobe discharged.

3. An ore mill comprising a base, a cylindrical shell secured'to the base, a ball race within the base, balls operable within the race, a driven ring having ball races upon its upper and lower face said races lia-ving Aballs adapted to being driven by said races,

flexible pressure Vmeans for applying prestioned overflow adapted fgto a change of Vsure upon the driven balls, a centrally posiheight of overflow, and a strainer means positioned around the overflow to regulate the degree of coarseness to be discharged.

4. An ore mill comprising a base, a shell secured t0 the base, renewable annular races and halls operable therein under pressure and means for driving the balls under pressure, a corrugated amalgam plate adjacent the inner circumference of the shell, a centrally located discharge through the base, means for regulating the degree of coarseness of the material discharged (therethrough and amalgam pockets in the line of discharge and means for tapping the same.

RAYMOND BARKHURST. 

